Times, 8th Feb.Tim Martin on binge drinking"“The government has made a big mistake, or a cynically deliberate one, concentrating its fire on the pubs for binge drinking. It’s the massive increase in consumption outside pubs that’s the problem,” he says. “Look, I’m not blaming Tesco, but by clamping down hard on underage drinking in pubs the government has forced drinking onto the streets, and the issue now is 13-year-olds smuggling bottles of vodka around.”

On recommended safe drinking limits"He rails against the government’s 21-units-a-week dictum. “The doctor who came up with it said there’s no medical foundation to it; 70-to80 units a week.”As a limit, or a recommenda-tion? He laughs.